Overview

Cleantech Group, with the support of Silicon Valley Bank and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, invite industry professionals to the latest in its Power Breakfast series: Biotech + Sustainability: 2018 and Beyond

Organized over the years, the Power Breakfast series is designed to give Bay Area cleantech leaders a platform for open and honest discussions about relevant topics.

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Location

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Agenda

From the outset of this millennium, application of biotechnology for sustainability aims was focused on biofuel ventures, then thought to be the likely successors to a petroleum-fueled transportation system. Vehicle electrification – including long-haul freight trucks – eventually took over that mantle with the rise of lithium-ion batteries, and the failure or strategic pivot of most biofuels startups.

Today, areas like sustainable agriculture, advanced materials and chemicals, and waste valorization continue to represent promising applications of sustainable biotechnology, while innovations such as CRISPR gene editing, artificial intelligence, and computational DNA techniques are enabling platform-as-a-service biotech businesses that are more likely to serve the healthcare and energy industries, simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the venture capital behemoth brainchild of Bill Gates, lists liquid fuels as one of its five core areas of initial focus.

Join other industrial biotechnology experts, entrepreneurs and investors for breakfast, coffee, and networking, and hear from our panel on the state of industrial biotech innovation today, and its likely trajectory in the next decade.

Venue/Travel

Speakers

Charles Dimmler

Charles Dimmler

Charles’s career has focused on building and leading teams at emerging growth companies in the life sciences and biotechnology sector. He has deep expertise in general management and leading strategic transactions, with over $1 billion of completed transactions ranging from public and private financings to joint ventures, licensing and M&A. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at TerraVia Holdings, Inc. (formerly known as Solazyme, Inc.) where over an eight-year period he led financings and a range of other strategic transactions, including two venture capital rounds, the initial public offering, two public convertible debt issuances, and project financing for the construction of a commercial scale manufacturing facility in Brazil. In addition to his corporate development responsibilities, he served as Acting General Manager of Solazyme’s personal care business in 2009 and under his leadership and recommendation the company shifted its strategy to commercializing a branded consumer product from selling solely active ingredients for personal care. Today, the Algenist™ skincare brand is sold in over 2,000 stores worldwide including Sephora, Ulta, and Nordstrom, as well as through QVC. In 2016, Charles led the spin-off and sale of Algenist to Tengram Capital Partners. Prior to Solazyme, Charles was the General Manager of Geron BioMed, Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geron Corporation. Geron Bio-Med focused on developing preclinical cell therapy candidates; as well as out-licensing nuclear transfer (cloning) technology. He first joined Geron in 2000 in corporate development. In addition to financings and strategy, Charles was also focused on out-licensing intellectual property for Geron’s telomerase-based technology. Charles began his career as an investment banker at Peter J. Solomon Company where he advised clients on mergers, acquisitions, financings and other strategic matters. Since 2008, Charles has remained active in his community as an Operations Leader with the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit, the mountain search and rescue team of the San Mateo County Sheriff. Charlie earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BA from Columbia University.

Jenny Rooke

Jenny Rooke

For over a decade, Genoa Ventures’ founder and managing director Dr. Jenny Rooke has been deploying capital at the frontiers of life sciences innovation, with a penchant for technology-fueled solutions and category-defying opportunities. Jenny got her start in venture at Fidelity Biosciences, a Cambridge-based healthcare VC, during their Fund I formation. Jenny then brought her unique toolkit of genetics domain expertise, strategic business acumen, and venture investing to the Gates Foundation, where she deployed and managed over $250M in funding in genetic engineering, diagnostics, and synthetic biology. She also played a key role in establishing the foundation’s investing function.

In 2014, Dr. Rooke began independently investing under the brand 5 Prime Ventures, financing her investments using what has become the largest life sciences syndicate on AngelList, and one of the highest-performing AngelList syndicates of any sector. Jenny founded Genoa Ventures in 2018, building on the 5 Prime Ventures track record, in order to scale a proven, differentiated investing strategy, to ensure continued access to the very best deals, and to maximize portfolio returns.

Sarah Reisinger

Head of Product, Ginkgo Bioworks

Sarah Reisinger

Meghan Sharp

Meghan Sharp

Meghan leads the Americas team for BP Ventures. Core areas of focus for the team include Upstream, Digital, Bio, and Mobility.

Meghan sits on the boards of Beyond Limits, Biosynthetic Technologies, and Advanced Biocatalytics Corporation. Previous board seats include Chromatin Inc., Taxon, Verdezyne, Xpansiv and Xact. Meghan has a PhD in bacterial genetics, post-doctoral work in plant genetics and an MBA focused on venture.

Power Breakfast Sponsors

Silicon Valley Bank is the premier bank for technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses. Named one of the top financial services company for cleantech companies by the San Francisco Business Times, SVB provides industry knowledge and connections, financing, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide through 28 U.S. offices and six international operations. (Nasdaq: SIVB) www.svb.com. Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary and the commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group. Banking services are provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve System. SVB Private Bank is a division of Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Financial Group is also a member of the Federal Reserve System.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the leading law firm in the world advising enterprises devoted to development of energy and clean technologies and projects.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the leading law firm in the world advising enterprises devoted to development of energy and clean technologies and projects. We represent a dynamic client base that includes more than 300 emerging companies seeking to be tomorrow’s energy and resources leaders, mature energy technology and project development companies, and major public companies developing winning strategies in energy and clean technologies. We offer the energy and clean tech industry unmatched experience gained in representing high tech companies in all phases of their growth cycle. For more information, visit www.wsgr.com